Perhaps Vincent Chin, whose death in 1982 fomented the pan-ethnic Asian American movement, can rest assured that America's leaders have finally heard his community's voice. On May 17, 2008, APIA Vote, in conjunction with the Ninth Annual Convention of the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (NCAPACD), hosted its first ever presidential town hall meeting at University of California Irvine's Bren Event Center.
Asians comprise one of the United States' fastest-growing ethnic groups making Asian voting participation a major factor in the 2008 elections. The town hall event discussed many of the Asian American and Asian Pacific Islander (AAPI) community's primary issues and concerns.
Historically, Asian Americans had to fight for recognition within the political arena. Things began to change after the 1965 Immigration Act, which led to unprecedented growth of the U.S. Asian population. Today, there are currently over 14.4 million Asian Americans and approximately 1 million Pacific Islanders. While their numbers increase, many Asians face voting barriers, such as a lack of language assistance at the polls. This hasn't stopped the AAPI community from engaging in the political process.
A 2004 News California Media poll showed that 62 percent of AAPI voters thought that the 2004 presidential election was the most important election of their lifetime. Voting impediments, such as lack of interpreters, have not deterred Asian Americans from voting. In 2004, 85.2 percent of registered Asian American voters participated in the election, showing the tremendous rise within the AAPI presence...
